Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-10-30
LIGHTNING PHOTOGRAPHS.
The Scientific Explanation of Ono That
Happened Ia Tennessee.
Savannah News,

At the little Tennessee village OF Dole
wah, on the railroad from Chattanooga
to Cleveland, 1 observed crowd OF peo-
pie gathered at an humble farm house by
the roadside, and asking the meaning OF the
crowd was told thai sold Mrs. Osborne"
was dead. "Old Mrs. Osborne" the
mother Of Farmer o borne, living about
two miles east of the town, had been
bed-ridden invalid for msny years. Last
Tuesday, the narrator continued, she was
lying in bed in the same little room she
had occupied for years, her bed being
near Window glazed with eight oy'ten
glass, when terrific thunder.torm
came up, and through the window,
as she lay HELPLESS in bed, She
saw the lightning strike and
SILVER 10 atoms tall pine tree
standing near oy, and it is supposed she
felt the shock, for soc was so frightened
and Frustrated that she rapidly sank into
an unconscious conciJion, and so I'm
gered on till next day, when she died
When the neighbours went to lay her out
and prepare her remains for burial they
discovered, to the great establishment Of
all and the superstition of many, that on
DIS Vi IuO pants va SAoCS IL sAAN "AANS"3
against which her bed stood, was g. per-
feet photographic likeness OF her as she
mad appeared in her neat cap and gown,
lying in bed for 30 many years. H7r
care-worn, suffering face had been seen
SO often 1t was perfectly familiar to all
the neighbors for mites around, and as
each neWcom er Glanced ct the glass he
drew back with amaZement and ex-
claimed:
Eyes; it is her likeness"
Appearing rather incredulous, tall,
intelligent Tennesseean suggested that l
drive back and see for myself. Asking
him to accompany me we drove back. l
expected TO see some hitherto unobserved
f1aw 10 the glass, which the superstitious,
aided by vivid imagination, might COZ
tort into some sort of fsncied resem-
blance, Just as we may discover shapes in
the dying Goals or trace resemolances In
the neeting clouds; but what was my sur
prise instead to see, not an imperfect
pane of glass, but perfect one, on which
was plainly visible q faint, though per-
feet, picture of an old woman In cap and
gown lying in bed.
as to its resemblance to Mrs. Osborne
I could not vouch, never having seen her,
for she was buried, her death having &C.
Cured three days previously, bus my
companion. who had known her well, as
sured me the likeness was perfect. a
number of people were lingering about,
wondering at the strange picture on the
glass, and attributed it to some supernat-
ural origin. 1 account for it on n.y.
pothesis which, though can not salts
factorily explain, seems to me the only
reasonable one.
That section of country is rich in MIN
eral ores-irou, lead, liver, gold, man
ganese, inter, etc. That pane OF glass,
from long exposure. had lost its bright,
glossy surface, andsbecome diDgy with q
some what itidescent film on it, caused
possibly by .imperceptible vapors from
these astounding ores, deposited hereon
iu theilong years of her Illness. Perosps
fumes or vapors of nitrate Of silver, which
W. know is what photographers use (gen-
Grated by the inter and silver in the
eartb), may have been il some
manner deposited in the glass,
thus making it what photographers
call "sensitive plate" While .tfe glass
was in this condition some sudden change
in the atmosphere may haze. occurred,
and Mrs. Osborn, being IN posed posi-
ten, the likeness vas imprinted upon II.
Be that as it may, the picture wss
there, and though not distinct Or highly
enough finished to have been delivered
TO customer by q frst-class photo.
grapher, it was certainly'a correct photo
graphic likeness, unfinished on that glass
by some natural process, and not by the
ksAA OF man, and remains mystery fol
science to solve.